Tyler The Creator Fans Upset After 2 Hour Delay But Say Concert Was Worth It
On Friday night, people were amazed to see the size of the crowd heading to the Don Haskins Center to see Bad Bunny perform his "El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo" tour. That show had plenty of people waiting to get inside of the venue, but those lines were nothing compared to the almost mile-long lines that were seen last night for the Tyler the Creator concert.
Tyler the Creator brought his incredible "Call Me If You Get Lost" tour to El Paso and we knew it was going to be an incredible show. In the early morning hours on Monday, several semi-trucks filled with equipment started flowing into the Don Haskins Center and staff began setting up his stage. Little did we know just how incredibly intricate that stage was going to be.
According to fans at the concert, they showed up at the venue early so they could get in line and into the Don Haskins Center sooner. Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way. I drove past the Don about 7 p.m. and saw a line of fans snaking their way from the entry of the venue all the way to Rudolph Plaza on Mesa Street, over half a mile away. I figured it was just a big crowd for the show and that it would be gone by the time I came back to the area, but I was wrong. I drove by again before 8:30 p.m. and the line was just as long as when I left. I sent a video to the Instagram account therealfitfamelpaso to show how long the line still was, and apparently, I wasn't the only one:
I spoke with some fans who were waiting in line and they let me know there was a delay in fans getting into the venue, which caused some fans to be waiting in line for over 2 hours. Problem was, most fans went and waited in the first lines that they saw. I spoke with one fan who bought VIP and he said there were some shorter lines that fans weren't aware of:
"Worst part? They had a ton of gates opened and they didn't have staff telling people where to go, so people stayed in lines for hours."
While this probably angered a lot of people, the issues are something we're seeing all over the city and not just for concerts. It seemed to be a staffing issue. The staff at the venue said they had been working the Bad Bunny show, UTEP basketball, and the Tyler the Creator show all in less than four days.
For more concerts coming to the Don Haskins Center, the venue should add more signage to help direct fans who are trying to get in line to get in the venue. While the line was long, the concert itself was beyond many fans' expectations. The rapper's stage setup was amazing and he played through all of his hits. Some fans drove into El Paso from the concert from Mexico and other parts of Texas. Safe to say, they think the hours-long wait was well worth it.